Nearly one in four primary care doctors prescribes antidepressants as a treatment for low back pain. But a new report shows there’s no evidence the drugs offer any relief.
The finding comes from a review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a not-for-profit group that evaluates medical research. The use of depression pills to treat back pain has been controversial. Some studies have suggested a benefit while others have shown the drugs don’t help. Complicating matters is the fact that depression is common among sufferers of chronic back pain, so it’s not always clear if doctors are prescribing the drugs for pain relief or as a preventative measure against depression.
The Cochrane review, led by Donna Urquhart, a research fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, analyzed 10 published studies that compared antidepressants to placebos in patients with low back pain. Some of the patients had ruptured discs, slipped vertebrae, pinched nerves or other problems; some were depressed, while others were free of depression.
READ MORE @ NY TIMES
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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